Eric Bischoff On Buff Bagwell’s Neck Injury, If Turning Buff Heel After Was A Mistake

On a recent episode of 83 Weeks, Eric Bischoff talked about the career of Buff Bagwell. Bischoff talked about Bagwell’s neck injury in ’98, Hogan working with Bagwell after the injury and why Bagwell wasn’t a top guy following the injury. Some highlights are below.

On Bagwell’s neck injury in ’98: “Go back and watch what happened with Damar Hamlin a few weeks ago that was essentially the vibe in WCW backstage at that point. We didn’t know. It looked horrible in Hamlin’s case it was horrible he actually died on the field and was brought back, I guess. But, with Buff we weren’t in fear of his life but we were afraid he was paralyzed from the neck down. Because, that was he was in that particular moment that you’re describing he was. We didn’t know if he ever, if he’d ever be able to walk again or even wheel himself around in a wheelchair again it was very scary, very.”

On Bagwell appearing on TV in a wheelchair: “ It was a real moment. That’s sometimes when wrestling is at its best is when it finds it perfect harmony between character, and story and reality and this was an extreme version of that obviously and one that clearly wasn’t planned, but I think being able to embrace it and bring it forward in an honest real way was the right thing to do.”
On If Bischoff Would Have Changed Bagwell’s Direction In Hindsight: “Again, you know, subjective. It’s tomato/tomato in a way for the reason you pointed out. I wasn’t inclined to make a story off of the injury. I don’t know why I didn’t feel good about it, but I just didn’t feel good about it. But, it may have made more sense.”

On if Bagwell turning heel after was the best usage of him: “Nope. Nope. Not going to sugarcoat it. I could try to justify it.. nope with hindsight. You can figure anything out.. You can figure a way to make something better in hindsight, but absolutely that would have been a better storyline. There’s nothing I can say, but you’re absolutely right.”

On whether Buff was difficult to work with at the end of WCW: “Yeah, not a lot though. It wasn’t like a huge problem, but in the course of a conversation for example I would stay in touch with Johnny Lauranaitis who I did bring in from All Japan I believe is where he was. Johnny was very much involved with creative in All Japan and I wanted someone.. I actually brought Johnny in not so much to be talent relations as in as much as I really was hoping Johnny could bring in a much richer approach to finishes in WCW had ever had that was always like my big challenge at that point… Yes, we would talk about, you know, some of the talent because I was trying to figure out what we were going to do going forward and I occassionally would hear references from Johnny about Marcus, but not in a way that made me go, ‘Oh my God, now what am I going to do with him?’ Just kind of like notes.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit 83 Weeks with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.